Moldova: Coronavirus Disease - COVID 19 - Situation Report No. 34 (25 September 2020)

Highlights – data as reported by national authorities Data as at 25/09/2020, 10:00 a.m.

• The growth in new coronavirus cases has accelerated, with a new record number of daily cases - 786 - being reported on Wednesday of this week and another 721 cases being reported on Thursday. The average number of daily cases over a seven-day period now stands at 567, which is nearly 100 cases more compared to the same figure last week. The total number of reported cases currently stands at 48,953. The total number of active cases increased to 11,058, which represents 22.6% of all registered cases;
• The overall crude cumulative incidence of cases per 100,000 stands at 1,409, placing Moldova near the top of countries with some of the highest incidence of cases in Europe and in the region. The crude cumulative incidence of cases over the last seven days is 114 and over the last 14 days is 209, with both figures registering an increase over the past week;
• The number of deaths continued to grow, with a total of 82 deaths being reported over the last seven days. The average number of daily deaths over the same period is 11.71, which is considerably higher than the 9.14 figure reported last week. The total number of deaths reached 1,252. The case fatality rate, at the same time, remained at 2.6%. The average age of patients who have died from the disease is 66.4, with over 90% of all deaths having been reported in patients 50 years of age and older;
• The number of patients who have recovered from the disease now stands at 36,643. This represents 74.9% of all cases;
• The deterioration in the pandemic situation in the country is also reflected in the weekly figures. After hovering between 3,000-3,300 cases for a few weeks, the weekly number of cases increased to 3,618 last week, which represents a 13.7% increase in the number of new cases compared to the previous week. The contagion rate (R0) increased slightly as well to 1.05 last week and remained close to this level;
• The weekly number of deaths increased to 80 last week, which is 20 more than the previous week or a 33% increase. In addition, the number of serious cases increased to 576 last week and continued to increase further this week, reaching 582 in the last seven days;
• Although the weekly number of recoveries registered a modest 5.1% improvement last week, the gap between the weekly number of recoveries and weekly number of cases started to widen again. With 3,306 recoveries being reported last week, the gap now is of about 300 cases;
• The share of health care workers in the total number of cases decreased slightly to 11.3%. Over 5,500 doctors, nurses, medical assistants and other staff from the health care sector have been infected with the virus since the beginning of the outbreak;
• In terms of geographical distribution, Chisinau, with 43% of all confirmed cases, remains the most affected area if the number of cases is considered. Transnistria region, ATU Gagauzia, Balti and Ialoveni follow in the list of most affected areas, accounting for 3-7% of all cases each. All other areas have 2% or less of the total number of cases each. If the size of the population is considered, with nearly 3,200 cases per 100,000, Chisinau remains the most affected area in the country. The capital city is followed by Balti, which has surpassed the 2,000-cases mark per 100,000, and Taraclia, Ialoveni, ATU Gagauzia and Basarabeasca, which have surpassed the 1,500-case mark per 100,000;
• The contagion rate is also uneven across the country, with certain districts registering considerably higher rates than others. Leova, Drochia, Ocnita and Soroca, for example, have some of the highest contagion rates in the country, which range between 1.3 and 1.5. The contagion rate in Chisinau is 1.1;
• More women continue to be infected with the virus than men, 59% vs. 41%. However, the percentage of men who have died from the disease is slightly higher than that of women, 51% vs. 49%. Furthermore, the case fatality rate among men continues to be higher than among women, 3.2% vs. 2.1%;
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